On Saturday, March 24th, during the Sonoran Arts League show two awards ceremonies took place in the Carefree Garden Sanderson Lincoln Pavilion. At 11 AM, the awards were presented to the winners and honorable mentions in the 2014 Carefree Garden Photo Contest. At 1 PM, the Spirit of Carefree Award was presented to Arthur Gimson.

The photo contest winners were Linda Benedetto-1st place, Taline Schmidt-2nd place, and Tom Baker-3rd place. Honorable mentions went to Betsy Anderson, Paige Brinkley, Teri Ferro, Nicole Neri, Sandra Neri, D.J. Stapley, Linda Stewart, James Thomas, Hazel Vaughn, and Sara Windom. The photographer whose photo got the most votes from the public was Taline Schmidt. Her Grand Prize is a 2 hour one-on-one workshop donated by renowned local photographer Jerry Sieve. The photos were hosted for public voting by the Magic Bird Festivals, the Desert Foothills Library, and the Cave Creek Museum.

Gift certificate prizes for these photographers were donated by the following Carefree businesses:

Alberto Ristoranti

Black Mountain Coffee Shop

Cafe Bink

Carefree Ace Hardware

Carefree Bistro

Cooper Nutrition

English Rose Tea Room

Giordano's Trattoria Romana

Lariat Restaurant at the Carefree Resort

Pizzafarro's

Sundial Cafe

The Carefree UPS Store

Venues Cafe

Co-chair Joe Corpora and I wish to thank our hosts, our prize donors, and all those who entered this year. The photos were lovely, as always. The 2015 calendars, featuring the photos that went on display for public favorite voting, will be available at Carefree Town Hall in the fall. Enjoy this video of the awards ceremony.

Lyn Hitchon

Public favorite photo taken by Taline Schmidt

The photo receiving the most votes during the Public Favorite voting period was taken by Taline Schmidt. She is the winner of the Juanita and Mark Wdowiak award.Taline's prize is a gift certificate to the Lariat Restaurant, donated by the Carefree Resort and Conference Center. The 3 professional photographer judges also declared her photo the 2nd prize winner for the contest in general.

The prizes, donated by Carefree businesses, will be handed out during our awards ceremony on March 22nd at 11 AM in the Carefree Gardens Sanderson Lincoln Pavilion amphitheater during the Sonoran Arts League Show. The public is welcome to join us. Congratulations to Taline Schmidt.

Everyone is welcome to enter the Carefree Desert Gardens 2015 Photo Contest. The purpose of the contest is to draw attention to the beautiful 4 acre botanical garden in downtown Carefree, so entries must include elements within that specific Garden. This is a great time to take pictures in the Carefree Gardens, as a lot is in bloom now. The entry times are early January through early February, 2015, but photos may be taken at any time of the year.

Next year, we will be adding a Student category. 2 of the 13 photographers whose photos were chosen by the judges to go on display for public favorite voting this year were teens, including Ms. Schmidt.

We want to thank all those who entered the 2014 Carefree Gardens Photo Contest. We got a lot of really lovely photos, as always! The 2015 calendar using those photos chosen by the judges will be gorgeous. Taline Schmidt's photo will be on the cover.